Thursday, 28th March 2024
All enquiries - Gary Knowles 0406 599 773
  • Change as Good as a Holiday for Graff

    Wednesday, 12th May 2021

    Being the recipient of high-class racehorses changing stables can be a poisoned chalice for trainers. Following the transfer of Group 1 class athlete Graff (Star Witness-Dinkum Diamond, by Keep The Faith), who is due to make his debut in Queensland, to his Eagle Farm base, Premiership-winning trainer Tony Gollan is underplaying the potential significance of the move. He suggested to racingqueensland.com.au that should the enigmatic, but prodigioulsy talented, galloper perform at something close to his best it’s less to do with how he trains and more to do with a change in environment for the son of Widden Stud’s now Victorian-based stallion Star Witness (Starcraft). Explaining that some horses just appreciate a change in scenery, Gollan said of the former southern states-trained entire: “We just put them into our system, see how they react to it and change what we have to change… With Graff, we have noticed a few different things with him as he has come from terrific trainers in Kris Lees and Danny O’Brien.” With Saturday’s first-up a hopeful prelude to a Gr1 Doomben 10,000 start, Gollan advised, “We have not had to overthink Graff, he is a tricky bugger – I know that – he has a lot of quirks, he is an intelligent horse and hopefully I can get inside his head enough this week to really fire up for us fresh-up. We know the ability is there, we just want to see him produce it on Saturday!”